






%> 




.5^^^. 









<"^' 



.^ / 




^^ z.^'-, \/ :'^. \,,^ 



^o 







r^'b- 



•^^ 







^ ,^^m^'. \/^ yM^^ u^. 





V »!*^'* <^ 







.« V. "^ -r ^,^ *«»•"» A^ <^ 







■^^. 



THE LOG OR DIARY 

OK OUR 

Automobile Voyage 
Through Maine 

AM) THE 

White Mountains 

Writien Bv 
ONE OF THE SURVIVORS 

Helen M. Angle 



cu^ju., lltjU^^ 7n- 



THE LOG OR DIARY 



OF OUB 



Automobile Voyage 
Through Maine 

AND THE 

White Mountains 

Written By 
ONE OF THE SURVIVORS 



R. H. Cunningham 
Stamford, Conn. 






Copyright, igio 



©C(.A28.3254 



4 

I 



To Daddy, who more by good luck than good care 

spared my life to write this Diary, the 

same is thankfully dedicated. — Neleh. 



Introductory Explanation, and Introduc- 
tion to the Crew, Why They Went 
on so Perilous a Trip, etc. 

Well, to begin with, we know a whole 
lot more about a boat than we do, or 
rather did, about an automobile. How- 
ever, all our friends got machines and 
Daddy, who never likes to be out of 
things, decided to be in the swim. Well, 
the natural thing to do next seemed to 
be to take a voyage in the thing. (I be- 
lieve it is more fashionable to call them 
''tours" in automobile language, but as 
I said before we are much better sailors 
than land lubbers, so please overlook our 
failings in making ourselves understood.) 

There was of course Daddy at the 
wheel, our old time pilot sat forward with 
him, and mother and I occupied what 
place there was left in the rear, after the 
cargo had been stored away. We took 
rugs and coats and suit cases and heaven 
only knows what, we looked as though 
we were rivals of Peary, about to hunt 
up another North Pole. When the plan 
was first suggested, Dad got a chart, or 
rather a Blue Book, to guide us and help 
lay out the course we were to follow.. 
We did not always make out to follow it,, 
but we felt more independent, for it is 
inconvenient to pick up a pilot in each 



new port one enters and takes so much 
time. We decided to start quite early in 
the morning, and each agreed to be up 
and ready ; that is, Dad, Mother, the Pilot 
and myself, but we all forgot to consult 
*'Billie." Oh, I believe I forgot to intro- 
duce this, the most important factor of 
the whole cruise. When we got the au- 
tomobile, that seemed such a mouthful to 
say, that we called him just "Billie," but 
upon becoming better acquainted with 
his disposition, we called him "Bucking 
Billie" ; later the reason may become 
more apparent. In fact, he showed some 
of his natural crankiness before we got 
away at all. Mother took some paper 
with her which she called ''cuss paper"; 
this was to be used to chalk down the 
bad things which Dad was almost sure 
to say; when things do not go right at 
home, he has a way of punctuating his 
language which is more forceful than 
elegant. However, he promised not to 
offend while we were away, and if he did 
do so, each offence would mean a fine, 
and mother felt sure she would have quite 
a bit of collecting to do. I think this 
will serve to let you get an idea of your 
traveling companions on this trip, so we 
will proceed to get under way. 



If 











J < 







t^^l'"' i#flt^ 



OUR AUTOMOBILE VOYAGE 

Tuesday Morning, September 8, 
4.10 A. M. 

I am not going to tell you where we 
started from for there are a couple of 
fellows up the state wearing the badge 
of authority whose idea of speed did not 
coincide with ours, and although we did 
not wait to argue the question, I think 
it well to keep our whereabouts when at 
home a profound secret. It is sufficient 
to say that we live some east of old New 
York in a town among the Connecticut 
Hills. 

Well, Mother and I arrived upon the 
scene of action shrouded in veils and 
goggles and found Dad and the pilot- 
chaufifeur taking turns at cranking "Billie" 
up. He seemed absolutely without feel- 
ing, and I was for going back to finish 
my morning nap, when with a deafening 
whirr he started into action. Dad ex- 
plained that the morning was so cold that 
it interfered with the carburetor or what- 
ever it is called, but now everything was all 
right. We fastened a couple of life-pre- 
servers on the side, piled away the lug- 
gage and got aboard ourselves, but just 
as we were about to start. Mother hol- 

8 



lered that we had forgotten the fire- 
extinguisher, and when Dad started to 
say words she said we must have it sure, 
for things were getting hot already. I 
climbed out and got the fire bug, and by 
the time we really got away it was 5 a. m. 
Dad was wild at the delay, but what he 
said was under his breath, so there was 
no chance for Mother to use the *'cuss 
paper," for she did not understand what 
he said. 

Our first stop was to be New Haven. 
Alas for the plans of mice and men, our 
troubles were many before we reached 
that port. In the first place, Dad was 
so sure of his way that he absolutely re- 
fused to listen to any directions, although 
Mother held tightly to the chart and 
made ineffectual attempts to keep him 
on the course. We went through 
Bridgeport at 5.50 and daylight was be- 
ginning to streak the sky. After that we 
went on and on, but nothing familiar 
greeted our eye. At last Mother said it 
seemed we were a long time getting to 
New Haven, and Dad turned to say 
things at her, when bing! went our star- 
board spring. Mother got her *'cuss 
paper" ready, but he saw what she was 
up to and she had nothing to write upon 
that occasion. Well there we were, out 
of sight of all human habitation and 
"Billie" showing no disposition to help 
us out. Just here I found out what a 



chauffeur's duties really are. He pulled 
off his coat, pulled on a pair of overalls 
and got down upon his knees to "Billie." 
He worked on his feelings some, blocked 
up the disabled spring, and we made a 
fresh attempt to see whether New Haven 
had been removed from the map. We 
passed a fellow limping along with no 
hat or coat and his handkerchief tied over 
one eye, who seemed to be looking for a 
hospital. He told us that while return- 
ing home the night before he was way- 
laid by some fellows who left him just 
clothes enough to get home in without 
looking for a barrel. They took his 
watch and money and departed without 
saying good-bye. He looked rather 
longingly at us with the eye he had left, 
as though he would have preferred riding 
to walking, but Dad said he was not 
much worse off than we were anyway, 
and refused to take him in. 

Well, it was 8.45 when we landed in 
New Haven, and of course our first stop 
was to inquire where we could get a new 
spring for "Billie." We were directed 
to the National Spring Factory, where, 
as we were informed, the best work in 
the city would be done for us. When we 
got there a long, lanky fellow with a pipe 
in his mouth almost as long as he was 
came shuffling out and squinted at us for 
about ten minutes, then he relieved his 
mouth of a pint of tobacco juice, and pro- 

10 



ceeded to tell us what ought to be done 
and the way to do it, but said nothing 
could be done then as the day before had 
been Labor Day, and the men had forgot- 
ten to come back. Perhaps some of them 
thought it was still Monday; anyway, 
after a great deal of persuasion, he de- 
cided to try and help us out. Dad run 
the machine around into their yard and 
told us to disembark and not show up for 
two hours ; that was the time the man 
said it would take to fix things up. We 
had a lot of trouble getting our feet un- 
tangled but at last we landed on dry 
ground and started for the city to look 
around the place. We got a lot of post 
cards and got interested sending them 
away and forgot all about the time, and 
it was most twelve o'clock when we 
started back. We went some I tell you 
when we found how late it was, for we 
had visions of what would happen to us 
for keeping Dad waiting. When we got 
in sight of the place we couldn't see 
them at all, the only visible thing was 
"Billie," he seemed like a stranded dere- 
lict among oceans of old iron and junk. 
Mother looked kind of scared at me and 
said she bet they had gone to hunt us up. 
Just then I saw something move under 
the machine, and looking closer I saw it 
was a foot, and that the foot belonged to 
Dad. Gaining courage, I went nearer. 
Just then he got up, straightened his 

11 



back, and catching sight of me, he said, 
"What, you people back as soon as this? 
Why the blooming spring is not half 
done yet." I looked at mother and she 
was having a fit laughing. When I 
thought of the useless amount of energy 
I had expended hurrying to get back, 
I didn't feel a bit funny. Dad went into 
the factory and I climbed into the car. 
Mother hollered but it was too late. 
Down went the jack and down went the 
car, and confusion reigned supreme. The 
men came out of the factory, and al- 
though they did not say it, I know they 
thought that it was just like something 
a fool woman would do anyway. I don't 
believe they had it jacked up very well 
or it would not have happened; but I 
was very meek and just sat down on a 
heap of old scrap iron and never moved 
again until the old thing was all finished. 
We left the city at i p. m. and Mother 
counted up the miles we had gone since 
morning and said she could have walked 
as far as we had come. It did seem that 
she was not satisfied to let Dad alone, 
even when he wanted not to swear. 
Well, he just turned on the juice and we 
went some. I think we must have re- 
sembled an airship going along. Once 
in a while I suppose we did touch the 
road, but we went through Guilford and 
a lot of little towns on a jump. When we 
reached Saybrook, Dad asked if we were 

12 



hungry. I had been starved for hours 
but had not dared even mention so tri- 
fling a detail. We inquired and v^ere 
directed to the "Fenwick," out on Say- 
brook Point, where it seemed they put 
up a fine shore dinner. 

Well, we were flying along toward that 
dinner when biff! bang! went a tire. I 
did not know the warning signals as well 
then as I do now, and I thought some 
one was shot. Daddy said something 
that made Mother grab for her "cuss 
paper," but we went right on, never stop- 
ping to fix the shoe or anything, poor 
"Billie" just had to make a bare foot run 
way out to the point. 

When we reached there, we went into 
the dining room to have our aching voids 
attended to and the machine was run into 
the garage where its troubles were look- 
ed into. Well, there was nothing to com- 
plain of in the style of this place, grand 
dining room and lots of pretty girls to 
wait upon us, but the food — well it left 
much to be desired. 

At 3.05 we were on the pike once more. 
New London was our next objective 
point, and it looked as though we were 
going to have a fine run. Looks are de- 
ceptive, however. We had gone but 
about five miles when all of a sudden 
down went the same blooming tire we 
had just fixed back at the Point. What 
Dad said upon this occasion there was 

13 



no difficulty in understanding, and 
mother was quite busy writing down his 
remarks. 

At 3.30 we were on the way once more. 
3.35, same tire down again. It seems that 
Dad forgot to put on the little cap or 
whatever it is that holds the wind, and he 
did not have another, so there we seemed 
likely to remain. I asked him to ask 
some of the fellows in the machines that 
passed us by with pitying glances, but 
he was stubborn and would not. 3.50, 
still there. At 4 p. m. a fellow came 
whizzing along who looked rather sym- 
pathetic and I called to him to stop. He 
had a fuzzy looking head, just exactly 
like our buggy rug at home, but he had 
the missing link we needed, and in a 
minute we were under way. Dad said 
if the thing went down again he would 
never touch it, but we had much confi- 
dence in our chauffeur, so that did not 
worry us any, although we thought best 
to maintain a discreet silence. 

At 5 p. m. we came to the Connecticut 
River. We went down to the ferry and 
it did seem as though we were going to 
plunge headlong into the drink, but Dad 
snubbed the machine just in time, and a 
cute little boat came over from the other 
shore and we slipped across in no time. 
The boat was the "Colonial." We asked 
the captain how often he crossed and he 
said "Whenever there was any one on 

14 



either shore wishing to cross to the other 
side." 

We were now headed straight for New 
London with raised spirits again. Dad 
and the chauffeur had some spirits that 
they did not pass around, but I caught 
them ''piping their grog" once in a while. 
At 6.30 we crossed the Thames on the 
''Governor Winthrop" and went to a friend 
who lives in Groton to spend the night. 
We had a fine supper and I was thankful 
for that, for our dinner had been such a 
dismal failure. Well, the house in which 
our friend lived was rather small so she 
put Dad and the chauffeur in one room 
and Mother and I in another one adjoin- 
ing. Mother had no chance you see to 
give Daddy a curtain lecture that night. 
At home she pitches into him and brings 
forth all his misdeeds of the day in the 
dark hours of midnight. When she 
found he had escaped her, she just look- 
ed things and banged the door. I heard 
Dad and the chauffeur laughing softly on 
the other side of the door, and I knew 
that some one at least was pleased with 
the sleeping arrangements as they stood. 
Well, I had quite a time to collect my 
thoughts and put myself to sleep, but at 
last I lost track of things and knew noth- 
ing more until the early morning sua 
awakened me. 



15 



Wednesday, September 9, 6 A. M. 

Awake, but dreadfully sleepy. Dad 
whistled until no one could possibly 
snooze any ir.cre, and although the friend 
with whom we were stopping was an 
awfully nice woman, I bet she was mighty 
glad to see the last of us. We had a 
splendid breakfast, and with best wishes 
from them all we started on the second 
stretch of our journey. We in the rear 
seat had gotten so by now that we could 
get stowed away without so much delay 
as we had caused at the beginning, so 
there was no time lost in the get away 
upon that occasion. 

Mother had somehow gotten the notion 
in her head, I think, that Dad must be 
troubled with bad eyesight, for every 
few moments her melodious voice cleaved 
the air in notes of warning — "look out for 
the side road, blow your horn at the cor- 
ner, look out for the trolley, go slow, 
here is a crossing," until positively I 
marveled at the vast amount of patience 
Dad displayed. All he did was to settle 
himself determinedly at the wheel and 
send "Billie" through at a mile a minute 
clip. He did a little mumbling also, but 
under his breath, and no one asked him 
to repeat his remarks. 

Well, the air was fine and bracing and 

16 



the machine was running most smoothly. 
It did seem as though the "Dove of 
Peace" had joined our company for that 
day at any rate. However, it was too 
good to last. All of a sudden in going 
down a steep incline, I felt the most 
dreadful jar, and on my side, too; it did 
seem as if everything that happened at 
all was meant for me. Well, being un- 
able to stop then, we made that descent 
with a dreadful list aport, and when we 
reached the bottom of the hill and got out 
to investigate matters, we discovered 
that we had coasted down most beauti- 
fully on three wheels, with the end of 
the axle digging its way into the roadbed, 
regardless. It took us some time to dis- 
cover the missing wheel. It was miles 
away in a lot back at the side of the hill, 
but strange to say, it was intact, nothing 
wrong except that when the wheels were 
off to be oiled, or whatever it is that gets 
done to them, the one wdio put them back 
again had neglected to tighten up the nut, 
and there you are. We knew who had 
done the job from the nice, quiet way 
that Dad helped to replace the thing. 

10.05, off again, and I sincerely hoped 
there would be no more stoppings until 
lunch time, for I really did not believe 
Dad's patience could stand much more 
strain. 10.25, more tire trouble ; doubled 
up this time, a puncture and a blowout. 
Well, we disembarked once again, and as 

17 



Mother had complained of not seeing 
much of the country on account of us 
going too swiftly when we went at all, 
I thought she might as well get a look 
about her now. It seemed as though we 
were likely to remain for quite a while 
where we were, so I got an old soap box, 
which I found alongside the road, and 
placing it just out of reach of the other 
machines, I ensconsed her there, while 
I stood around to boss the job the men 
bodies were trying to do. Somehow this 
particular tire needed a lot of coaxing, 
and at last Dad lost his temper and jab- 
bed too hard with those corking irons 
they use in putting in tubes, and out came 
the chauffeur holding the poor, inoffen- 
sive tube in his hand, cut in dozens of 
places. Of course it was Dad's fault ; if 
it had been any one else who had done 
such a fool trick he would have likely 
taken a fall out of them ; however, as he 
had no one upon which to lay the blame, 
he got out another tube and started in all 
over again. I trembled for the fate of 
that one, but all went well, except that 
Mother had a few things to write on that 
"cuss paper" of hers before the job was 
completed. 

At last both wheels were in good con- 
dition again, and mother decided that she 
had had her money's worth at that mati- 
nee performance, so she hit the poor, un- 
offending box a vicious kick with her 

19 



foot and sent it flying, and I felt it was 
not any time to say anything so I meekly 
climbed aboard again and at 11.55 we got 
away. 

Mother started in once more to give 
directions how to run the machine, but 
Dad told her to keep an eye on that tire, 
and when she got time between her warn- 
ing cries, she did try to watch it. Once 
she forgot it for quite a while and then 
she looked rather quickly just as we went 
over a thank you mam in the road, and 
the side of her face and the side brace of 
the car became mixed up somehow, and 
I guess it hurt her some, for she was 
strangely quiet for a long time, and the 
tire was left to stay up or go down which- 
ever it pleased. It pleased to stay up, I 
am pleased to say, for I was getting 
dreadfully hungry and hotels did not 
seem to grow on the road we were on, 
so I was most anxious to keep moving. 

At last we came to a place where there 
were five roads all going different ways, 
and wc got the charts mixed and were go- 
ing too swift to read the sign-boards, so 
we took the wrong road. We did not 
find this out for quite a spell. We came 
to some dreadfully hilly roads, and after 
we had gone miles and miles, we met a 
man and asked him the way to Boston. 
The fellow said we would have to go 
back to the cross-roads and take the Bos- 
ton road. Dad, seeming to forget that 

20 



this man probably had had nothing to do 
with the roads or the signs, just hollered 
frightfully at him about the whole busi- 
ness. The man looked at us as though 
he thought he would like to direct us to 
another place than Boston, but held his 
tongue, for which I at least was most 
thankful. 

Well, back we went, and poor "Billie," 
who had not balked at all about going 
over the road the first time, kicked some- 
thing dreadfully about retracing his 
steps, and we did have a most awful time. 

I p. m., the chauffeur got out and oiled 
up. 1. 10, fixed a spring that had become 
unjointed somehow. 1.30, oiled some 
more, and finally at 1.45, deaf to all coax- 
ing, "Billie" came to a dead stop. 2 p. m., 
had not discovered what was wrong. 2.30, 
still hunting fot the trouble. 2.45, the 
chauft'eur looked at the gasolene tank and 
found it — empty. I thought of asking 
Dad if the thing would run with ''hot air," 
there seemed to be quantities of that 
around us just then, but I was afraid of 
an explosion, so I kept "mum." As far 
as we could make out, it was just as far 
from anywhere going ahead or back, and 
as we could not go either way just then, 
things looked pretty blue for a hungry 
girl like me. At last Mother, who had 
been still quite a while, tried to help 
matters by making a very ill-timed re- 
mark, something about giving a "king- 

21 



dom for a horse." Dad got mad and said 
that the fellow who made that speech 
never owned an automobile or he would 
have wanted to corner the horse market. 
It seemed to me that this particular cor- 
ner would be a pretty good place to have 
a horse, but wisdom suggested silence, 
and I obeyed wisdom for once in my life. 

Well, at last Dad and the chauffeur de- 
cided to draw lots to see which of them 
would strike out for the nearest place 
where gasolene might be obtained, and 
the chauffeur got ''stung." Just as he 
was about to start, I thought of a small 
can of the much needed fuel which had 
been placed in the car for just such an 
emergency as this, and so the chauffeur 
lost that opportunity to escape us. I know 
if he had have gotten away from us at 
all, he would have beat it for home. I 
think he was sick of us anyway. 

Well, they dumped the gasolene into 
the tank and at 3.05 we started in on our 
bill-climbing contest once more. We 
won because we were the only one in 
tbe business, all the other machines had 
gone on the regular Boston turnpike. At 
last we came to a decent piece of road 
and then we made time I tell you, but it 
was 4 o'clock before we arrived at a 
place called the Old Field Point Inn near 
Providence. 

Well, I fixed my mouth for the shore 
dinner I did not get yesterday. My what 

22 



a funny place it was. It was all fenced 
off and a lot of queer little piles of rocks 
were placed about the enclosure and a 
most delicious smell of clams and fish was 
arising from them. Dad said they were 
ovens, and that was the way a real old 
fashioned Rhode Island bake was pre- 
pared. 

The dining room was a great long aiifair 
with miles of tables stretching down the 
entire floor; there were queer little racks 
hanging a foot or two above the tables 
where the salt and pepper and other trim- 
mings were kept. When we were seated 
the waiters came and dumped some 
steamed clams on one side of our plates 
and lobster and corn and clam fritters and 
things all around us until my place look- 
ed like an island, surrounded with the 
inhabitants of the deep. Mother said she 
did not like her foods so mixed up, but 
Dad asked her if she would not mix them 
herself when she ate them ; she seemed, 
however, to prefer to do her own mixing. 
I was so hungry that trifles like that did 
not interest me. I did not seem to mind 
how the stuff was thrown at me, just so 
they threw enough of it my way. 

My, there were automobiles there from 
everywhere ; it seemed like everybody 
was hungry, and I bet they had not had 
the bouncing we had either to make them 
so. We left there at 5 p. m., and if it 
had not been for mother we would have 

23 



been stranded again without any gaso- 
lene, for Dad completely forgot "Billie's" 
ailment, now that his own tank was filled. 
They did not sell any gasolene there, but 
one of the chauffeurs let us have a little 
until we could reach Providence. 

Well, we filled up there and oiled the 
machinery, and Dad settled himself at 
the wheel and said, "Well, folks, the next 
stop will be Boston." It wasn't. We 
made a lot of stops before we reached 
the "Hub." Once we were obliged to 
stop for chains to keep the car from skid- 
ding, the streets in the cities were so wet 
that it was most impossible to keep 
"Billie" on an even keel. When we did 
get to Boston, Dad said we better keep 
right on our course until we reached 
Lynn, Mother felt as though a good bed 
was most to be desired just then and 
wanted to remain in Boston ; she was 
afraid there might not be any good hotels 
in Lynn. Dad said she could stay in 
Boston if she wanted to, but the way he 
said it made her decide immediately that 
she did not want to, and to Lynn we 
went. We had been making splendid 
time and arrived there at 7.45 p. m. We 
stopped at the Seymore and I washed off 
a coat of sand and dust, brushed up what 
hair I had left and presented myself at 
the table for supper. I was not very 
hungry of course, but meals seemed to be 
so very irregular on our job that I tried 

24 



to fortify myself for anything I might 
miss the next day. At 9 o'clock, although 
pretty late, Dad decided he wanted to 
visit a cousin he had living in the city. 
You know he always claims to be a ter- 
ribly friendless sort of chap, but he al- 
ways seems able to dig up an uncle or an 
aunt or some cousins most anywhere he 
goes. 

Well, when we got to Cousin Dan's 
house we found it was not his any more ; 
he had sold it and moved somewhere 
about a mile farther on. Mother was 
right tired and kicked against going any 
farther, but at the place we inquired, a 
mighty pretty girl came out to direct us 
and offered to accompany us to the house. 
She stepped right up to Dad and they 
started off. When Mother saw him in 
company with a good looking female she 
found she was not so tired as she had 
supposed and followed in their wake. 

Well, Dan was at home and glad to see 
us, but his wife was visiting a neighbor 
some ways up the street and he wanted 
us to see her, and away we went again. 
Mother made no comment upon this add- 
ed walk. I suppose she was afraid some 
more good looking females would aopear 
as escorts ; at any rate, I was good and 
tired myself by this time, and I just drag- 
ged on after the bunch, with nothing to 
say to anyone. I was so glad when the 
door was opened and I anchored to the 

25 



first piece of furniture that I saw, and 
that I thought would hold me. We spent 
quite a pleasant time, and Cousin Dan 
accompanied us back to the hotel. I 
think Dad and he talked things over un- 
til morning, at any rate as soon as we 
were inside and Mother had made up her 
mind Dad was safe from further contact 
with the feminine population of Lynn, 
we hustled to bed. 

Mother had Dad to herself that night, 
or at least the part of it there was left 
after Cousin Dan left. I was glad she 
had him, for I had decided he needed a 
little lecturing. Well, the moment my 
head and the pillow got acquainted, I just 
simply died ; I did not even dream. 



26 



Thursday, September lo, 5 A. M. 

Awakened by a knock upon my door. 
5.30, awakened by a louder knock. This 
one sounded as though it meant business, 
so I jumped up and dressed and landed 
at the breakfast table not so very much 
behind the others. Dad was unusually 
quiet but the chauflfeur whispered to me 
on the Q. T. that he had overheard por- 
tions of conversation between my belov- 
ed parents that morning, in which pet 
names, such as dear, etc., were strangely 
missing, so I made no comments. 

Well, at 7 a. m. we weighed anchor, 
and just as we swung out into the road- 
way a beautiful black cat crossed our bow, 
and as I am rather superstitions, I called 
attention to it. I said that I believed we 
would have good luck all day through it. 
Well it was decided that we were to get 
our dinner in Newburyport, so I got out 
the chart or blue book and prepared to 
cross off the places as we came to them, 
just as I used to mark off the days on the 
calendar before vacation time in the old 
days at school. Towns went by on the 
run, and so did everything else; all I 
could see was the rear of things getting 
safely out of our pathway. They acted 
as though they thought **Billie" was an 
avenging Angel bent upon their destruc- 

27 



tion. We lost all reckoning of our longi- 
tude, etc. We inquired of one fellow, but 
we were going some, and I think he 
thought we had designs upon him, so 
he dodged into a store and we were past 
him before he got his mouth open even to 
holler. We tried to ask another chap in 
a carriage, but the horse took fright and 
the fellow was most home before he could 
have answered anyway. Finally the 
chauffeur w^ent into a house to ask and 
he was gone so long that I went to find 
him and we both found there was no one 
at home ; when we got back to the ma- 
chine I judged from Dad's looks and a 
suspicious rustle of paper that Mother 
had been busy with her "cuss paper." We 
went on and soon overtook a farmer who 
told us to go about a mile and turn to 
the left, or we could go straight on from 
where we were only the roads were not 
so good. We decided that a few miles 
extra on a good road would amount to 
very little and took the longest way. Of 
course we only had the man's word that 
it was the better road ; sometimes it look- 
ed as though he did not know what a 
good road was, or that the other must 
be simply impassable. 

At 10.05, stopped to oil up and put 
some water in the cooler. We passed 
many fields and beautiful bits of wood- 
land, but houses — never one. At last 
from the queer bumpy feeling and a zig- 

28 



zaggy motion of "Billie's," I made up 
my mind that we had met another nail or 
something equally vicious, and sure 
enough, flat as a pancake was the bloom- 
ing tire ; it did seem as though all the 
nails and tacks in the whole world had 
combined to worst us ; at any rate they 
made this trip memorable to all of us. 

While the tire was being replaced or 
pumped up, or whatever finishing touches 
they get, Mother remarked that the black 
cat was seemingly more of a hoodoo than 
anything else, and Dad, who had not 
spoken for some time, relieved his feel- 
ings some by saying — well some things 
that the cat would not like to have heard 
I know. 11.30, another start. We seem- 
ed to be specially successful in starting, 
but what troubled us was to keep going. 
Well, we met some road along here. It 
was so rough that most of my hairpins 
departed, and my head and feet nearly 
changed places two or three times. I am 
sorry I complained at some of the roads 
I had been over, for they were velvet 
pathways compared to this. 

Daddy had promised us dinner in the 
next town, which was Newburyport, but 
it was so late when we got there that he 
kept right on, and all we got was the 
promise and some more of that dreadful 
shaking up. Mother made a couple of 
attempts to utter some of her warnings, 
but almost bit her tongue off, so she shut 

29 



up and just held on for dear life. "Billie"' 
acted like a hero and went bouncing^ 
along, sometimes on the ground and it 
seemed more times not. Well, without 
one thing more happening, we arrived in 
Portland at 5 p. m., and in spite of what 
they say, I believe the cat was all right 
after all. 

This was the first straightaway run we 
had made since the start without some 
old thing happening to delay us. We 
stopped at the Tremont House and had 
our supper or dinner, and if ever a ship- 
wrecked mariner wept tears of thanks- 
giving at sight of land, I felt sure like it 
when we reached that dining room. Well 
the table did not look so well after a short 
time, but we felt a lot better and re- 
embarked for the last few miles, which 
stretched between us and Brunswick. Of 
course, as we are natives of the old **Pine 
Tree State," Dad was acquainted with 
the lay of the land, and needed no com- 
pass in his home waters. The roads were 
some better and at just 8 p. m. we drew 
up at our old home door and it was some 
good I tell you to see the folks once more. 

Truly sometimes on the trip down, I 
had not expected to, and I was so nearly 
seasick back on that awful road that I 
almost hoped I would not live to. Well, 
Dad's sister was interested to know all 
about our trip, what we had seen and all 
that, but I told her that we had seen 

30 



nothing all the way; we were so busy 
stopping and starting and trying to get 
to the next place ahead. She looked as 
though she thought a box car would have 
done as well to take the trip in if that 
was all. You see Dad had seemed 
throughout the trip to lose sight of the 
fact that there were things in the world 
beside crank up, oil up, get there and get 
away, and we women folks had scarcely 
thought it wise to remind him. 10.30 I 
went to bed and slept the sleep of the 
just. 



31 



Friday, September ii, 6 A. M. 

Awakened early from habit, now that 
there was no need of it, for we were not 
going to start anywhere very early. I 
snuggled down for a nice nap the mo- 
ment I remembered this and never knew 
more until Aunt called me at 7.30. 

After breakfast we decided to take a 
trip up to Monmouth (that is Dad's 
birthplace) and the men went out to talk 
things over with "Billie" to see how he 
felt about it. You see we had all learned 
that his consent was a most necessary 
point to gain in making our plans. At 
first glance he appeared all right, but 
upon further examination it turned out 
that he was a bit wheezy or something 
and his valves needed 'attention. So 
Mother and I went in and helped Aunt 
with the dishes. My! but I hate that job. 
My cousin stayed home from school to 
go with us, as she had never had an auto 
ride, and she danced around Dad until 
I know he wished she had gone to school 
^r would go in the house. Some half 
dozen of her little friends came over and 
added their comments and questions. One 
little fellow said he just adored automo- 
l)iles and wished he did not have to go to 
school. A little girl with her face all 
lied up in rags said she did not have to 

32 



go to school because she had a toothache, 
but said she liked to ride in automobiles 
too. Cousin tossed her head and told them 
she was not going to school and had no 
toothache but that she was going auto- 
mobiling. I know just how she felt when 
she said that, and I know just what those 
kids felt like saying to her; human na- 
ture has not changed much after all since 
I was a youngster. One of the boys with 
a practical turn of mind said he bet a fel- 
low had to be awful rich to own an auto- 
mobile. Dad told him that he guessed 
he was right, but that no one could re- 
main very rich and run one of them. 

When we had finished our work in the 
house, Dad asked us if we would rather 
go before dinner or after. I wanted to 
go before, but Mother said she knew why 
I was anxious to do that. I knew, too, 
that I would likely escape another lot of 
dirty dishes if we went first. 

At II a. m. we started for Litchfield 
on our way to Monmouth. Dad has an- 
other sister living up there. She is a high- 
minded sort of person and lives among 
the mountains. Says her doctor advises 
it, but she did not say what she paid him 
for the advice, however. We stopped in 
a garage for some gasolene, for up in the 
wilds of Maine it would not be easy to 
get any auto fixings, and we know from 
experience how pleasant it is to be miles 
from nowhere and a tank that should be 

33 



full, totally empty. We also got a pad 
for the youngster; she seemed to think 
it necessary to take notes of the trip, to 
regale her school friends with later I 
suppose. She was kept pretty busy at 
first. I know she saw a yellow cat with 
black eyes, and some cows upon the 
mountain side, which seemed of enough 
importance to be taken note of. Some- 
times she could not write at all, the ma- 
chine rocked so; she wanted Dad to stop 
while she got down her impressions, but 
he said the deuce with cows and cats and 
on we went. 

At 12:50 we got to Aunt's abode. She 
boards with a Mrs. Winter, and they got 
us the nicest lunch, all homey stuff, and 
Mrs. Winter's two daughters waited 
upon us. After lunch Aunt wanted Dad 
to take Mother Winter and her daughters 
out for a little ride, as she had never been 
on the inside of an auto. Of course he 
was most willing; he had been putting 
an awtul eye upon those girls all through 
our meal. They were nice and slim and 
pietty. Mother decided that Aunt and 
she would go also, but that there wouM 
be no room for me; of course she would 
go butting in if some woman was going 
to get near Dad. Well it was fixed for 
me to stop there and wash up the dishes 
for Mother Winter just like a nice, little 
girl and Dad got the machine ready. 
Goodness when Mother Winter appeared 

84 




r 












/ 



i' ^/.'//^y^. 



'^ ''"^^1' 




she was not a bit like either daughter, 
more like them both bunched together. 
Of course there was not room for them 
all and dear Mother was left at home, 
where she was so willing to leave me ; 
darned if I was sorry. 

Well, I went to work at those dishes 
and I saw right then there is no use in 
running away from disagreeable things; 
you will find them ready to meet you 
when you get where you are going any- 
way. Well, when the crowd got back, we 
said good bye to all hands and with one 
last look at the Winter twins Dad gave 
the wheel a turn to starboaord and we 
were off for Monmouth. 

Mother was ominously quiet, and only 
hollered once or twice about cross-roads, 
etc. Cousin wrote in her log when she 
could sit still enough, and I bit my lips 
to kcf-p from laughing over what was 
likely to happen when Mother got Dad 
all to herself. "Billie" was behaving 
mighty well, except that he was listing 
badly on the side which Mother Winter 
had held down. The spring seemed 
rather weak. The chauffeur examined 
it and thought it would do for a while, 
but he had Mother and I change sides, as 
she weighs so much less than I do. 

As we were getting aboard again, I 
noticed that one of "Billie's" shoes that 
was much the worse for wear had a hole 
almost all through on one side. Dad 

36 



thought it could be patched. We were 
told to watch for a cobbler shop, where 
a piece of leather might be obtained to do 
the trick. We arrived in Monmouth at 
4 p. m. It was no great trouble to hunt 
for a cobbler shop there, for there were 
onlv three stores in the place. However, 
there were no leather men there and 
it began to look bad for that shoe. I 
have never before been in Monmouth ; 
Dad has, but it was fifty years ago. We 
got some post cards of the place and some 
candy to eat, just because it was from 
Monmouth. We could not bite it. I told 
Dad 1 bet it was made the year he was 
born. Well, we stopped at a little way- 
side place and got a patch from an an- 
cient mariner to fix ''Billie's" shoe. Then 
we proceeded to return to Brunswick. 
Mother, who had been quite quiet, now" 
began again to tell Dad where to blow the 
horn, how fast to go, etc., until I meekly 
suggested that she change places and 
run the machine herself. Somehow my 
idea did not hit her favorably and it was 
quite chilly for a long time in my imme- 
diate vicinity. At last Dad noticed some- 
thing wrong and asked what ailed us. I 
told him. Mother did not think I would,, 
and afterwards I wished I hadn't. 

We arrived at 8.30 and I went straight 
to bed; every one knew I must be sulky 
or most dead, for I am always on hand 
when meals are ready. Cousin came with 

37 



me, she had even lost interest in her log. 
After she had gotten to sleep, however, 
she awakened with the idea that the black 
cat or the yellow one she had seen was 
scratching the eyes out of the mountain 
cows or something equally ridiculous, but 
I told her the cows would likely take care 
of themselves and she went off again to 
the land of "Nod." I did not know until 
morning how dad made out when he had 
to face the explosion that had been bot- 
tled up for him all day. 



38 



Saturday, September 12. 

When I opened my eyes I found the 
sun was on his job and I quickly dressed 
and descended to my breakfast. The 
rest of the bunch were already there and 
guyed me a lot for being late. I glanced 
over the table and found that they had 
not demolished quite everything, so I 
went quietly to work and let them talk. 
This was absolutely the first meal I had 
really had time to eat respectably since 
leaving home, and I made the most of my 
opportunity. 

"Billie" was taken over to the town 
after breakfast to have his springs over- 
hauled and some bumpers, I think they 
are called, put underneath to stand the 
strain in case we overloaded the machine 
as we did yesterday. Mother, aunt and 
myself went for a walk upon the hills. 

The morning was perfect, and the odor 
of fir and balsam filled the air with a 
most delicious fragrance. We returned 
at II o'clock to find that Dad and the 
chauffeur had arrived with "Billie," all 
primed up and washed and looking alto- 
gether quite respectable once more. Well, 
we dressed and at 12 noon we started for 
a place called Forest Home, situated most 
delightfully with a pine forest for a back- 
ground and the old ocean rolling up in the 

39 



foreground. Here we were to have din- 
ner. We did not, however, get our dinner 
quite as soon as we really expected we 
might, nor did we reach our Forest Home 
until we had passed through some trials 
and much tribulation. We had not gone 
far when the neat little patch which Dad 
had had adjusted that morning over the 
weak spot on "Billie's" shoe suddenly 
turned ''turtle," leaving the sore spot ex- 
posed; some bits of gravel worked 
through and bang! went the whole busi- 
ness. Mother and I had gotten so used to 
these little happenings that we simply 
piled out and said nothing. Aunt, how- 
ever, was new at the business and tried to 
ask questions in regard to it. Dad does 
not take kindly to questioning at such 
times and she soon joined us where we 
were seated upon the stone wall by the 
roadside like a couple of crows looking 
on. The chauffeur blocked the car up 
while Dad looked over the extra tires in 
a vain attempt to discover one that would 
do. Alas, not one. You see we had been 
piling them up on the trip down and had 
forgotten to have anything done to repair 
them or get any new ones. We were in 
a spot when the thing occurred which 1 
firmly believe had been overlooked both 
by man and beast since Creation day. 
There was nothing to be seen on either 
side, straight ahead or back of us, but 
miles of clay road and thick forests. There 

40 



seemed nothing tc be done but to patch 
up an old tire, and Dad told me to hunt 
up the glue, or whatever it is called, that 
is used for such purposes, and he got into 
his overalls and got ready for business. 
I pulled out the robes and coats and some 
of the suit cases, and dug under the seat 
and in the tool box, but not a bit of 
stickum came to light. Dad, becoming 
impatient, finally pushed me one side and 
— well he did not find it either. Then he 
lighted on the poor chauffeur. Each 
blamed the other for having forgotten it, 
but at last it seemed to dawn upon them 
both that whoever had been to blame they 
were not helping matters just at that time 
by holding a court-martial over it, and 
so Dad started bravely for somewhere 
to get a piece of leather or in fact any- 
thing that would do. 

I would have run the machine without 
a shoe had I been captain of the expedi- 
tion, but Dad was loth to ruin the rim (I 
think he called it) and off he went. After 
he had gone a fellow came by on a motor 
cycle, and seeing us hung up, stopped to 
inquire into our difficulties. As it turned 
out, he had some self-healing patches, I 
guess he called them, and in a short time 
we were all fixed up, pumped up and 
ready to start. When Dad finally arrived, 
he looked so warm and tired that I was 
glad everything was all done for him, but 
he was so blooming ugly when he saw it 

41 



done that no one said anything to him at 
all. You see he had walked miles, poor 
fellow, in the heat and dirt, whereas if he 
had remained with us things would have 
turned out all right just the same. I 
thought of Isaac Newton and the falling 
apples, but it did not seem exactly a good 
time to say anything, so I wisely kept 
quiet. 

3 p. m., under way once more. I was 
most glad to get away from that particu- 
lar spot of the universe, but believe me, if 
the road we had been on was straight, the 
next turn we came to made up all that 
could be desired in crookedness. We 
crossed the same railroad track twenty 
times in as many minutes. Even a self- 
respecting snake would have been unable 
to follow that road without breaking its 
back. First we would be heading due 
west, and in a moment it would seem we 
would be back again facing the land of the 
rising sun. 

At 4.30 p. m. we arrived at our destina- 
tion and I was famished. Probably the 
others were also, but I was the only one 
who acknowledged it. My! what a deli- 
cious dinner we did have ; everything was 
served in such a dainty manner, too. 

6 p. m., on our homeward way. "Billie" 
kept his natural disposition well under 
control and we had a delightful trip. 
Aunt, who is limited in the knowledge of 
automobiles and their shortcomings, said 

42 



it seemed to her that the machine was all 
right if given the proper attention. She 
said it was not to be expected that any- 
thing could go on forever without some 
repairing and looking into. Dad said, 
that so far he had given **Billie" much 
more attention and consideration than he 
had shown any willingness to return, and 
no one being in a position to dispute him, 
silence reigned. 

Well, as usual, when we went at all, 
we went like the wind and at 7.30 exactly 
we arrived at Aunt's home. Just as we 
were alighting Mother caught her skirt 
upon the handle of the door and tore a 
beautiful three-cornered piece right out 
of the front of it. She was some mad, 
but I told her not to mind, she could get 
a new one when Dad settled up with the 
"cuss paper." She was not much cheered, 
however, for I do not think she believed 
he would ever reach the settling stage. I 
am positive she would never dare suggest 
it to him. 

After "Billie" had been put to rest. Dad 
and the chauffeur went to the town and 
came back laden with cards and souve- 
nirs. Dad brought Mother and I each a 
card album. I am going to keep mine to 
put post cards in of the places we have 
been through. It will be a nice way to 
see some of the country we have passed, 
blessed if I have seen much of it as we 
came along. Well at 11 p. m. I went to 

43 



my bed, but not to sleep. No indeed. It 
seemed to me that lobsters, crabs and 
other creatures of the deep were holding 
a consultation, and from the feeling I had, 
I judged the result was not at all satis- 
factory to any of them. I know it was 
not to me. I heard the clock strike every 
hour until 4 a. m. 



44 



Sunday Morning, September 13. 

Awakened at 8.30, not feeling quite as 
well as might be desired. For breakfast 
there were the old-fashioned Boston 
baked beans and brown bread. They 
looked mighty good to me, but there was 
still a rebellious feeling going on within 
me, and I was obliged to be quite self- 
sacrificing, though it did hurt some. After 
breakfast I was not asked to help with 
the dishes, and that fact alone made it 
worth while being sick. Instead I got 
ready and we went for a spin and had a 
lovely day. The only disagreeable fea- 
ture of the entire trip was the way the 
drivers of horses acted about letting us 
get by. Those who appeared to know 
enough to side track were too contrary 
to do so, and those who were willing did 
not seem to know enough. When Dad 
would blow the horn some of them 
would look back and hold their course, 
plumb in the middle of the channel. 
Others would not look around, and still 
others after looking back, it would seem 
for hours, would suddenly cross our bow 
at perilously close quarters, and the re- 
sult was a series of hair-raising escapes. 
Once if the chauflfeur had not grabbed the 
wheel and jibed her over in a hurry we 
would have been head on into an idiotic 

45 



looking crank who seemed to have an in- 
sane desire to drive between our two 
front wheels. We lost a lamp in that 
mix-up, and Mother did some writing, but 
otherwise we enjoyed the day more than 
any since our departure from our home 
port. 

6.05, returned hungry and tired. After 
supper the men went for a walk. I do 
not know when they got in. I bet that 
Dad catches it though. I am glad I 
sleep on the other side of the house. You 
see Mother cannot bear to have him leave 
her to go anywhere for a minute. I should 
think she would be glad to get rid of him 
once in a while. She, however, calls it 
Love ; still I should think that even poor 
little Cupid would want a rest. 



46 



Monday, September 14, 5 a. m. 

Opened my eyes quite anxiously to see 
what kind of a morning it was. I was 
afraid it was going to be stormy, for last 
night was so cloudy. We were to make 
a nice early start on our return voyage 
to-day and wet weather is not exactly 
conducive to pleasant automobiling. Of 
course I knew that if the 'Towers that 
be" (meaning in this case my august 
Daddy) decided to make the start, there 
would be no appeal from that decision, 
so I prayed for sunshine, you may be 
sure. 

Aunt put up a nice luncheon ; the 
chauffeur went round looking things over 
to see if all was taut and ready to stand 
the weather; mother arranged the suit 
cases, etc., a little more to her liking; 
while I looked **Billie" over anxiously,, 
trying to read his mind, to see how he 
felt about going home. We stopped in 
Topsham for gasolene and new tires, and 
when the chauffeur cranked up again, we 
noticed steam rising from the radiator or 
water tank, or whatever it is called, and 
he said he bet there was a leak in it. Dad 
jumped out, unscrewed the top and be- 
fore he could sidestep, he was covered 
with dirty, iron rusty water; it scalded his 
hands and made a wreck of his clean 

47 



shirtfront. It seemed that the water was 
most out of the thing, and what was in 
came out when he opened the top and 
there you are. 

Mother told him that if he had put on 
his sweater, as she had asked him to do, 
that he would not have spoiled his bosom 
shirt; she did not seem to mind about his 
poor hands. Well, anyway, he asked the 
chauffeur how in the Devil it was that he 
forgot to fill that tank when he had been 
working round the thing since three that 
morning. I told him not to scold, for we 
should be glad it was not out of business, 
and we could get some water, so it might 
be much worse. 

Well, we filled up at a wayside water- 
ing trough with a little half-pint dipper, 
which does not insure lightning results ; 
and then the men folks thought it would 
be nice to have a drink themselves, but 
in Maine to drink anything stronger than 
water is considered against the law and 
gospel, so they were obliged to curb their 
thirst and off we went. 

A white frost had fallen during the 
night and the grass was strewn with 
glittering diamonds wherever the sun 
shone upon it. The air was quite nippy, 
and we were glad to avail ourselves of 
some of those extra wrappings that 
Mother had insisted upon bringing along. 

7.53 arrived at Millport. 9 a. m. in 
Portland. We should have gotten there 

48 



much sooner than this, only we lost our 
way twice and had to go so far round 
the third time that we might better have 
gone back. We would not have gotten 
lost so often only we went whizzing by 
the sign boards so fast that they looked 
like blotches of paint instead of letters, 
and at last Daddy decided that it might 
help some if he went a bit slower and 
gave us a chance to read, it would save 
going back so often, if no more. 

We oiled up in Portland and started 
for Gorham. The engines had gotten to 
raring and went plinkety plunk until I 
was nearly crazy. Dad got out to see 
what was wrong and he found one engine 
not working, but he did not find out why. 
Naturally we were not able to make much 
headway. There was a fair at Standish 
and we must have passed all the horses 
in Maine on the way to it, while the noise 
we were making scared the poor animals 
almost to death. One fellow drove up 
the side of a bank to escape us and waited 
for us to pass him. Daddy appreciated 
his good intentions, but the way we were 
going it began to look as if the fellow 
would miss the Fair if he waited for us. 
We just crept along, hardly able to keep 
steerage way on the blooming craft, and 
at last I inquired why they did not try 
to find out the nature of "Billie's" ail- 
ment. Dad said he could find nothing 
wrong, but that when he got to a garage 

49 



he would have the people there look for 
the difficulty. We went miles and miles 
on a walk, but could read all the sign 
boards now without any difficulty. We 
passed one that said it was 4}^ miles to 
Steep Falls ; on the opposite corner, in 
plain sight of this, was one giving the 
distance to the same place as five miles. 
Dad said it made little difference whether 
he went slow enough to read the boards 
or not, the blooming things were not to 
be depended upon anyway. He seemed 
to forget that he was not going slowly 
for the purpose of reading anything, but 
just because he could not help himself. 

Arrived in Steep Falls at last, but there 
were no stores that looked promising 
there. A freight shed and a feed store and 
a toy grocery comprised the entire outfit. 
We were badly in need of an automobile 
hospital you see, to find out what ailed 
the engines ; also, we were pretty low on 
gasolene. Well, we passed an old shed 
about a mile from town and a sign there- 
on stated that gasolene was sold there at 
35 cents per gallon. Dad said that was 
daylight robbery; he did not think the 
whole village worth much more. It did 
not make a great deal of difference, how- 
ever, what he thought ; we simply had to 
have the expensive luxury, so we drew up 
at the door, "Billie" announcing our ar- 
rival with the same groaning and creak- 
ing which had been assailing our ears for 
miles and miles. 



The door was made fast with a padlock 
and there were absolutely no signs of life 
in or about the place. As it was well past 
noon, we decided to have our luncheon 
then and there, so we attempted to rescue 
the box of lunch Aunt had placed in the 
car in the morning. I pulled out fur coats 
and linen dusters and rugs, etc., only to 
find that one corner of our heaviest suit- 
case had been resting comfortably on that 
poor unoffending lunch for hours, and 
Aunt's ginger bread looked more like 
molasses pudding than anything else, but 
all hands were hungry, so everything dis- 
appeared completely. Just as we were 
finishing, a little urchin trotted up and 
asked us if we were waiting for the gaso- 
lene man. When we assented, he told us 
that it was his ''Fadder," and he was 
home to dinner, but would be back in half 
an hour. Mother said if he would go 
hurry him up she would give him a dime, 
but I thought this would be a fine oppor- 
tunity to dispose of that Monmouth candy 
and I showed him the box; I did not dare 
give him any until his return, however. 

Well, he went upon the wings of the 
wind to get his *'Fadder" and obtain that 
candy. When he returned there were a 
baker's dozen of other little fellows with 
him, and true to my promise, I handed out 
the box. One little chap bit into a cara- 
mel and went whooping off down the road 
like an Indian, holding onto his jaw. 

51 



Well, while the man was getting his 
money for the ''juice," Dad told him of 
some of his troubles on the way up from 
Standish. The fellow was anxious to see 
the inside workings of the machine, and 
although Dad objected to the delay, he 
took the hood off and the fellow squinted 
at the engines and chewed tobacco, and 
at last decided there were too many wires 
and things for him to know much about 
it anyway. So Dad started to slam the 
hood into place again, but suddenly stop- 
ped, peeled his eye pretty close to the port 
engine and said something that would not 
look well in print. He took the pliers and 
juggled some of the wires for a minute 
and presto ! our sick "Billie" was well 
once more. There had been nothing 
wrong all along except a contrary little 
wire which had become detached from 
somewhere, causing all the trouble. The 
man said it had not taken long to fix it, 
but Mother butted in and told him it had 
taken long enough to find out what to 
fix. Well we left that place some quicker 
than we were able to get there. As we 
passed the corner we were pursued by a 
crowd of disgusted boys, pegging candy 
at us as long as we were in sight. 

Our stopping place for that night was 
expected to be Bethel, but alas with an 
auto, a fellow never knows where he is 
going to lay his head. We were getting 
into the mountains by now, and the hills 

52 



were becoming steeper every mile. We 
climbed some by getting out and pushing 
"Billie" up, and some by blocking him up 
with portions of the stone walls upon the 
roadside, and waiting until he got his 
breath to start on again. Twice we got 
almost to the top of one dreadful hill by 
dint of much coaxing and then down he 
went clear to the bottom again. A chap 
upon a horse came along and tried to 
cheer us by telling us what trouble all 
the other tourists had. He said the cause 
of it was that the air became rarified in 
the mountains so that the gasolene mix- 
ture became affected or something of that 
sort. Anyway the air near us was blue 
enough. My the things that the men said ; 
why Mother simply tore up that *'cuss 
paper" then and there. She said it kept 
her working overtime and never would 
do her any good. 

Well, after a while we got through 
playing see-saw on that hill and got to 
the top and stayed there. I had jammed 
my finger, or rather Mother had jammed 
it for me ; she got mixed some in putting 
a stone under the wheel and mistook my 
poor finger for the roadway, and it began 
to hurt me badly. I showed it to Dad, 
but he said no one sympathized with him 
when he scalded his hands in the morning, 
so I kept my own counsel after that. 

At 8.05 p. m. we arrived at Maplewood 
and stopped at the Maplewood Hotel. It was 

54 



a grand, big place, room enough in it to 
accommodate a city full. When we drew 
up, three or four darkies surrounded us 
and grabbed our coats and suit cases and 
freed of our hamper, we disembarked. 
When we got under the lights on the 
porch and those colored gentlemen got a 
good look at us, I know they thought we 
had come to the wrong entrance, although 
any self-respecting serving maid would 
have considered herself eternally disgrac- 
ed to have looked as we did that night. 
Our tussle with those hills and the dust 
of the roadway had not combined to make 
us look any too well groomed. We reach- 
ed our rooms and I made a brave attempt 
to remove some of the marks of the day's 
toil. Then I dug some dress clothes out 
of my suit case and descended to the 
dining hall. I met my family there and 
we all went in together. Mother holds 
her head pretty high at all times, just sails 
along, looking neither to the right or to 
the left. Upon this occasion she never 
saw a poor little waiter with a big tray of 
dishes coming her way, and when we res- 
cued her from the mixup she had to go 
back and change her rig. After supper 
we went out to look over the place. The 
grounds about the hotel were something 
suburb. I said I would not mind remain- 
ing there for a week, and looking at the 
clouded sky. Dad said most likely I would 
have to. When I retired that night my 

56 



finger ached badly, and for a long time I 
could not sleep. I named the four posts 
of my bed for four friends of mine, as I 
used to do in school, but when I did get 
to sleep all I dreamed about was the poor 
little waiter mother upset. 



58 



Tuesday, September 15, 5 A. M. 

When I opened my eyes I found the sun 
was still shining brightly. No rain and 
nothing that looked like it was to be seen. 
We started at 5.50, and as this was earlier 
than they served breakfast, we decided to 
get ours in Littleton, N. H., which was 
not far ahead. I was sorry for I know 
that Dad's disposition does not work as 
well before breakfast as it does afterwards, 
and I was worried when I thought of the 
hills between us and Littleton. Well, we 
shaped our course for that place and 
finally got there, over some of the most 
dreadful hills. Those of yesterday were 
but babies compared to these. Needless 
to say we repeated the blocking and push- 
ing process with the machine numbers of 
times. When we got there we met some 
one who told us that we had come the 
wrong way and might have avoided the 
worst of the hills had we come the other 
road. Well, we got directions from this 
man and started on, and no one thought 
it wise to mention breakfast. Before long 
we forgot that we had not had any. We 
had seen in the guide book something 
about a three-mile hill, but the man we 
inquired from told us we need not go up 
that if we followed his directions. I don't 
believe we did go up it either. I think 

59 



that at the least calculation the shortest 
hill we climbed was about six miles in 
length. I searched the chart to find some 
way of getting back on the traveled road, 
but I could not locate our position or get 
our bearings, and we were obliged to 
keep our course. 

11.05, stopped to oil up. 11. 10 on our 
way once more. 12 noon, still climbing 
hills. We had met no one of whom to ask 
anything since leaving Littleton. Dad 
said he would like to find some blooming 
idiot and ask him if there was not an- 
other mountain somewhere we had ne- 
glected to climb. We passed a few houses 
but they were all boarded up, as no one 
seemed to live in the vicinity. The 
chauffeur, who had been quite silent, said 
he did not wonder at folks digging out of 
such a forsaken place as that seemed to 
be. 

I p. m., came to a road that looked 
promising and we began to descend. We 
passed a fellow driving a team of oxen 
and he directed us how to get to Moulton. 
We wrote down what he said and began 
coasting again. I believe that for ten 
miles we used absolutely no power, just 
let the car have headway. 2.50, we came 
to a fine macadam road. Dad let "Billie" 
out and we had one glorious spin. Just 
about this time I began to feel rather 
faint and then it dawned upon the bunch 
that we had had neither breakfast or din- 

60 



ner. 3 .10, arrived in Moulton and stopped 
at the very first place that looked any- 
thing like a hotel or an inn ; we were not 
over particular by this time. 4 p. m., on 
our homeward way again. The only 
thing that happened all the rest of that 
day was when we discovered a leak in the 
pipe which feeds the carbureter. We 
patched that with soap, so it would hold 
until we could get it attended to. I asked 
the chauffeur if he supposed it happened 
from "Billie" straining so to get his breath 
back in the mountains, and Dad laughed. 
I took notice of that laugh for the sound 
of merriment had been strangely missing 
the entire trip. 

At 7.15 we arrived at Suncock, N. H., 
and stopped at a place called the Oswald 
Inn. The machine was put into a garage 
to have the leaky tube soldered, and after 
we had made ourselves presentable we 
went into the dining room. A wishy- 
washy looking fellow, who seemed to be 
the waiter, was reading a paper some- 
thing about ''advice to the love lorn," and 
he seemed loth to leave the advice long 
enough to wait on us. He moved about 
in a sort of dream, and I expected every 
moment to see Dad or the chauffeur wake 
him up a bit. However, he got along 
fairly well, and after we had finished we 
went out to see if we could get the ma- 
chine fixed that night, as we wished to 
start quite early in the morning. The 

62 



man at the garage did not want to do 
anything about it, for he was afraid to 
monkey about gasolene at night; however, 
he was persuaded to do so by an applica- 
tion of the "long green" and soon the job 
was done. The chauffeur had been look- 
ing about and had discovered that a pin 
was missing which holds the wheel or 
something, and so we all went to hunt up 
a blacksmith to get a new steel arrange- 
ment fitted in. It was quite late before 
that job was completed. I know I got 
restless and sleepy and left the bunch. I 
do not know when they came in. 



63 



Wednesday Morning, September i6. 

When I awakened at 5, a dense fog 
was hanging like a pall over the town. I 
dressed hurriedly and descended to the 
dining room, only to find that the rest of 
the party were nearly finished with their 
breakfast. I was told to hurry up, but I 
made up my mind to get all I wanted be- 
fore I left that place, for I had not for- 
gotten our experience of yesterday, and I 
meant to have one good meal for the day, 
whatever the result might be. 6.20, when 
I finally got ready I went to the garage 
to see why they did not come for me. 
Mother stood there alone, leaning upon 
the car, but the men folks were nowhere 
in sight. When I inquired about them 
she told me that they had gone off dis- 
gusted, having had to wait so long for 
me, and that they were most likely hold- 
ing up the bar at the Inn. Well, I drifted 
back and sure enough they were just 
coming out, but thank fortune they were 
both smiling, so I ventured to join them. 

Well, "Billie" responded very readily 
and we seemed likely to get somewhere 
that day. As we were starting, I noticed 
a large wet spot on the floor, but not sup- 
posing it was in any way connected with 
our affairs, I neglected to speak of it. 
Later I did wish I had mentioned it. We 

64 



had only gone a short distance when 
"Billie" balked. No amount of coaxing 
seemed to have any effect, and remember- 
ing the time we had been stranded for a 
drop of gasolene, Mother suggested that 
the tank be looked into. Dad declared 
we had plenty, but finally did look, and 
we had none whatever. The chauffeur 
said there was plenty in it when they 
left it half an hour before. Well, it turn- 
ed out that the shut-ofif, or whatever it is 
that turns off the juice underneath, had 
gotten turned in some way and all our 
supply had run out. I remembered the 
suspicious spot on the garage floor then 
and told Dad about it. He agreed that it 
was probably our gasolene, but said it was 
no use talking about it now if I did not 
know enough to say something at the 
time. The chauffeur said likely a lot of 
kids had been getting too fresh and turn- 
ed the thing; but whatever the cause, 
some more stuff had to be gotten some- 
how, and it was up to some of us to get 
it, so the chauffeur took the can and 
started back to the village. I thought 
from the frosty feeling about the place, 
that walking would be good for me too, 
so I went along. Well, on our way I 
heard more things about automobiles and 
cranks that run them than I ever knew 
before. You see our chauffeur is a 
strangely silent man, but I suppose he 
thinks as fast as other people. At any 

65 



rate, he chose me then and there to air 
his grievances upon. I felt sure then that 
the next trip we took would be without 
his pleasant company. Well, we got our 
gasolene and went back to find Dad pac- 
ing up and down the road, just as he 
paces the quarterdeck of our old Hooker 
when things have not gone exactly to his 
liking. Mother was reading a newspaper, 
or she seemed to be; when I got near 
enough, however, to see, I found she had 
the paper held upside down, but as she 
seemed oblivious of the fact, I thought it 
best to make no remarks. 

Well, we dumped the gasolene into 
"Billie's" tank and at 8.20 exactly we 
made a new start. I was worried for fear 
our supply would not hold out until we 
reached Manchester, and listened an- 
xiously for any cessasion in **Billie's" 
heartbeats. Well we arrived in Manches- 
ter and filled up the tank, and then Dad 
told Mother to meet him again at the 
Commons in about two hours. It seems 
he used to work there when I was a 
youngster and wanted to stop and see 
some of his old cronies. I had nothing 
soecial I wanted to do, in fact I felt as 
though I had walked enough already that 
morning. Mother, I suppose, remember- 
ed how we had been hustled out of every 
place we really wanted to stop at and said 
most consolingly, "Never mind, dear, it 
makes a great difference which part of the 

66 



family wants to stay," and after we had 
held down the Commons for almost three 
hours, I certainly felt like agreeing with 
her. 

2 p. m., the men arrived and they seem- 
ed in the best of humor; it was quite evi- 
dent that time had not hung heavily for 
them, and feeling that it was best for this 
state of bliss to continue, I yanked Mother 
by the sleeve when she started to say 
things, and I believe I avoided a mixup, 
at least for the time being. 

At 2.15 we left the city and I just pray- 
ed that nothing would go wrong, for I 
felt sure that if Dad's unusual show of 
good nature received a setback the result 
would most likely be calamitous. We 
flew along and could just get glimpses of 
things we passed. Finally we came to a 
farm house and a wee bit of an urchin 
was holding for dear life onto a great 
truck horse with a piece of rope about a 
foot long. He looked at us and so did the 
horse. Evidently the horse did not like 
"Billie," for he suddenly broke away from 
the little fellow and off he went. The boy 
naturally objected to his going and stood 
and yelled whoa at him as long as we 
could see or hear him. I asked Dad to 
stop but he would not listen to me ; we 
kept going and so did the horse. At last, 
pretty well winded, he turned in at a pas- 
ture by the roadside, at least two miles 
from his starting point. Mother said that 

67 



Dad would have called another man bad 
names, but it does make a difference who 
owns the horse and who runs the auto- 
mobile. Well, we certainly did find some 
dandy stretches of road, and "Billie" 
acted like a hero. Dad seemed to feel 
dreadfully good natured and at last start- 
ed to sing. The chauffeur was real glad 
to hear him, but I knew it was the worst 
thing Dad could do. He once told me that 
he had never sung but twice in his life; 
the first time he was taken with a bad 
sickness right after his singing bee and 
he was married shortly after his second 
attempt, so I feared for results upon this 
occasion. My fears, it turned out, were 
not overdrawn. I cannot tell just what 
happened or how, but I think that Dad 
had gotten so interested in his song that 
he became a bit careless, at any rate he 
got "Billie" too close to the side of the 
road, and to avoid going down an em- 
bankment he wheeled suddenly across the 
road plumb into a machine headed the 
other way, and both cars made a head-on 
acquaintance which jarred all hands 
dreadfully. I was thrown out and Mother 
came tumbling after. I don't know how 
the rest got out, whether they fell or got 
out themselves. The machines were badly 
used up too. When I could move at all, I 
felt sure at least one arm was broken, and 
I felt like a piece of tough beefsteak that 
some one has pounded the dickens out of 

68 




Wimw 




to soften it up a bit. I helped Mother to 
her feet, with Dad's assistance, and found 
that outside of a bad shaking-up she seem- 
ed unhurt. There was no one in the other 
car but the driver, and he and Dad got 
into a conversation which was quite heat- 
ed in the beginning. Somehow they found 
out that they were both Masons, and that 
seemed to please them a whole lot, though 
I could not see how that helped so much, 
for the cars looked like they needed the 
services of a machinist more than a 
Mason. The chauffeur had lighted him- 
self a cigar when he found all his bones 
were still intact and was seated over on 
the fence making absolutely no attempt 
to help adjust matters. He had always 
seemed to know just what to do hereto- 
fore and the best way to do it, but I could 
plainly see that no help was coming from 
him in this dilemma. He did not say 
anything, but I knew that he had about 
decided that Dad as a chauffeur was not 
an absolute success. He had made sev- 
eral attempts to get Dad to let him run 
the car when we first started from home, 
but he never would allow it, and well here 
we were, and from the looks of the wreck- 
age no one would run the thing for some 
time to come. Mother acted like an 
angel ; usually she has so much to say 
about "I told you so," that her silence 
upon this occasion was most unexpected. 
At last it was decided that we would have 

70 



to find an abiding place for the night, as 
it was now after 5. Just as this decision 
was reached a fellow came along with an 
old farm wagon and we hailed him. He 
hauled to and seemed much more inter- 
ested in what had happened to the ma- 
chines than he was in us or our welfare. 
At last, however, he told us that he lived 
down the road a spell, and if the women 
wanted to pile in, he would take us to his 
home and could come back and tow the 
cars in later. I did not want to go, so I 
stayed with Dad, while mother and the 
chauffeur departed. 

Well, we looked *'Billie" over. He was 
done up this time sure ; his side was 
smashed in, and his outriggers were 
broken off, and he looked like he would 
have to be hauled out on a drydock for 
repairs. We were in bad shape. We cer- 
tainly seemed to be a complete wreck. 
At last the farmer came back with a pair 
of horses and attached a hawser to both 
cars, and with the stranger and Dad and 
I bringing up the rear, we left the scene 
of our disaster. The house was about a 
half-mile down the road and situated in 
the cosiest little spot. It looked like a 
bit of Arcadia to me, and I was glad in- 
deed to have found such pleasant quarters 
to spend the time which was likely to 
elapse before we would be able to con- 
tinue on our homeward way. 

When we entered the domicile I found 

71 



it to be equally pleasant. It seemed that 
the farmer who had brought us lived here 
alone with an old maid sister; she was a 
sweet little person and flew about getting 
us as comfortable as possible. The man 
we had run into was to remain for the 
night but would be obliged to return to 
the city in the morning. He left the re- 
pairing of the car to Dad, who, of course, 
assumed all the expense. We had a fine 
little supper, and afterward we had a jolly 
time, that is, under the circumstances. 
The lady of the house tried to entertain 
us as best she could. She gave us a great 
deal of her history, but dwelt sadly upon 
the fact that she seemed doomed to re- 
main unmarried. Mother told her that she 
ought to be real happy and thankful that 
she was not tied to any man. She told 
her that most people agreed that marriage 
was a failure anyway. The spinster 
agreed too. She said it had certainly been 
a failure with her; in fact she had failed 
three different times in entering what to 
her seemed the only happy state of exist- 
ence. She said she had been sure the last 
man meant business, but he disappeared 
and the next she heard of him he was 
married to a widow with six youngsters. 
I bet he wished many times he had not 
done it ; six kids, and Dad says one is a 
great plenty. Well, she sang for us a 
lot of old mushy love songs, and after 
hearing her voice I wondered if maybe the 

72 



six youngsters were not preferable after 
all. After a while she asked Dad to sing 
something. She said he ought to have a 
fine bass voice, he was such a big strong 
fellow. Needless to say, he refused very 
decidedly to oblige her. I suppose he re- 
membered what his last singing brought 
him to. 10 p. m. good nights were said 
and all hands were piloted to their rooms. 
Mine was up among the eaves, and the 
floor was covered with rags (I mean a rag 
carpet), and the bed was one of those old 
Revolutionary things that it takes a ladder 
to climb up into it. I felt awfully dreamy 
and spooky, however, up there all alone; 
rather I guess I was afraid I was not 
alone. There were so many little nooks 
and dark corners that I could not get the 
candles to light them all up, and I guess 
I expected ghosts and goblins to stalk out 
any moment. I burned my fingers trying 
to get the pesky candles to burn more 
brightly. There was a feather bed under 
me and one to put over mc, and I climbed 
up into that bed and hid my head under 
the covers, so I could not see the dancing 
shadows in the corner. I just dreamed a 
lot of night-marey things about old-fash- 
ioned men with big shoe buckles and 
swords. Once I awoke screeching. I do 
not remember at what, but Dad came 
rushing in, and instead of having sympa- 
thy for me, he told me to have a little for 
the rest of the folks in the house. I tried 

73 



to be quiet. At last I heard a big grand- 
father's clock somewhere in the house 
strike 5 and I knew that all self-respecting 
spooks always departed at daylight, so I 
turned my face to the wall and my! but 
I slept, and soundly too. 



75 



Thursday, September 17, 9 A. M. 

Awakened with a start, for a time I 
could not place myself, and nearly tum- 
bled out of bed before I remembered what 
a high and mighty affair I had been sleep- 
ing in. I climbed down and proceeded to 
don my clothes. While I was thus en- 
gaged I took a peep at the weather. It 
was one of those hopelessly dreary, 
weepy fall days, the first bad weather w^e 
had had since leaving home. I suppose 
that upon the whole things turned out for 
the best, for we could not have gotten any- 
where in such weather even had "Billie" 
been in a condition to travel. I did wish, 
however, that our present abiding place 
were a bit nearer some city. 10, dressed 
at last. I got badly lost looking for the 
dining room, and wandered through all 
sorts of queer rooms and finally got to one 
long gallery like affair, hung with innum- 
erable pictures. I think all the folks the 
old maid had ever had were there, and she 
certainly must have had a good many. 
There were men in uniform and ladies in 
fancy dress costumes, some men in knee 
pants and enormous buckles and more 
ladies with hoop skirts and waterfalls on 
their heads. All of them seemed to have 
their eyes set upon poor me with a most 
inquiring stare, and I just gathered my 

76 



skirts in my hand and made a grand dash 
out of there. The breath was all out of 
me when by accident I came upon a door 
which I found opened upon the family 
sitting room. Mother and the old maid 
were the only occupants when I made my 
debut, and Mother seemed surprised to 
see me. I reckon she had expected I 
would sleep right through until dinner 
time. Dad and the chauffeur were not in 
evidence, neither was the man of the fam- 
ily. I suppose they were out trying to 
diagnose ''Billie's" ailments. I found tjiat 
the farmer had driven our unfortunate ac- 
quaintance of the evening before to the 
nearest railroad station and had not yet 
returned. After a cup of cofifee, I joined 
the men folks out in the stable and left 
Mother to entertain the old maid; I am 
never much interested in women's chatter 
and was glad to escape from them as 
usual. Stayed out until the fellow return- 
ed from the station and then we all went 
in to dinner. The storm which had begun 
quite respectably in the night had increas- 
ed in violence, and the little old farm 
house shook and trembled in its grasp, 
and dinner was eaten to the accompani- 
ment of beating rain drops and furious 
gusts of wind. 

1.30, piled up in a big chair in the old- 
fashioned library, in front of a delightfully 
cosy fireplace, with my nose deep in a 
most interesting book, and truly I never 

77 



enjoyed myself quite so much as I did that 
stormy afternoon in the country, miles 
from anywhere whichever way one went. 
6 p. m., supper time, and it was so dark 
we had to eat by candle light. 8 p. m., in 
the family sitting room and Mother dear 
requested me to play something to enter- 
tain the bunch. I detest playing and she 
knows it. I suppose that is why she ask- 
ed me ; anyway, I banged out a lot of rag- 
time until everybody felt like throwing 
things at me I know, and at last I played 
"Home Sweet Home." That finished Dad. 
He said there was no use rubbing it in. 
9.30, candles were handed round and we 
each sought our beds once more. I asked 
the old maid to show me to mine, for I 
did not feel very sure that I could find it, 
after my experience of the morning. 10.30, 
in my high-toned bed, cuddled up in the 
covers, with every candle I could lay my 
hands upon burning brightly to dispel the 
shadows. The wind howled around the 
house like a "Banshee," and I put extra 
fervor in my prayers before daring to close 
my eyes that night. 



78 



Friday, September i8, 7 A. M. 

Awakened to find the storm had abated 
and although the sun had not as yet re- 
turned to work, the day promised to be 
clear. 8 a. m., breakfast finished. Dad 
would not let me come with him ; said he 
had all he could attend to without having 
me nosing around. The chauffeur said 
nothing. He has a fashion of thinking 
twice and then talking to himself. I think 
that is how he gets along as well as he 
does with Dad. 

II a. m., the gentleman who owned the 
other car came back; seemed quite pro- 
voked to find things were not yet com- 
pleted on his car. He went out to Dad, 
and from his demeanor when he left the 
house, I think that even the fact that they 
were brother Masons had ceased to have 
much weight with him. He was really 
most unreasonable, for we were so far 
from anywhere that it was a dreadful han- 
dicap. 12.30, all hands came in to dinner. 
The chauffeur told me that Dad had fixed 
it up with the fellow. He was to have the 
damaged car taken to the city and have 
whatever was necessary to be done to it 
attended to there, and in the meantime he 
was to use a hired car at Dad's expense. 
I was glad to get rid of him and his old 
car. 2 p. m., I went wandering about the 

79 



old place and finally found myself in the 
attic, and my it was a perfect treasure 
house of bygone times. There were 
trunks and cedar chests full of old-time 
iinery. I just forgot everything else and 
dressed myself up in some of the quaintest 
things ; when I was fixed up I must have 
looked like my own grandmother. Of 
course no one knew where I was or what 
I was up to, and I did not mean them too, 
naturally. Well, I danced about and tried 
to imagine myself taking part in a real 
old-fashioned minuet, after which I sat 
down and flirted most outrageously with 
an imaginary cavalier, and finally the 
quietness overcame me and I closed my 
eyes and slept; I do not know how long, 
but when I opened them again total dark- 
ness prevailed. I jumped up and fled from 
there, never stopping to breathe until I 
landed in the midst of the others. I want- 
ed to get where it was light. I got what 
I was looking for and something I was 
not. In my excitement I had completely 
forgotten my appearance, and there I 
stood rigged out in that old ball dress 
which had belonged to some past genera- 
tion of the old maid's family, a self-con- 
fessed "snooper." There was nothing for 
it but to face the music. Explanations 
would only have added to the offence, so 
I let the others do the talking. The old 
maid's brother must have enjoyed the 
spectacle I presented for he laughed like 

80 



an old fool at me. The old maid herself 
tried to be real sweet about it, but Mother 
— oh ! she arose in righteous wrath and es- 
corted me from that room, and even the 
spooky appearance of my own little place 
under the eaves lost much of its terror 
after she had finished her say. I crept 
into bed very meekly and Mother return- 
ed that confounded old dress to its hiding 
place. I felt so hungry and lonely that I 
believe I would have welcomed the society 
of even a respectable ghost. 



81 



Saturday, September 19. 

Awakened early but did not know 
whether it was best to descend or not. 
Finally hunger settled the question for 
me, and I took all my courage in both my 
hands and down I went. I was of course 
in total ignorance of how far the repairs 
upon "Billie" had progressed. No one in- 
formed me the night before and I had 
been too wise to tarry asking questions 
even had I thought of it, which I confess 
I did not. My breakfast was eaten in 
deep silence; no one said anything to me 
and I thought it best not to open the 
conversation. 

1 went out to visit "Billie," but did not 
seem very welcome there, so I just went 
for a walk and stayed until noon. At din- 
ner the mental atmosphere had cleared 
considerably. You see there is not much 
use in staying cross with anyone who does 
not resent it, and I had been so meek that 
at last I was taken back into the good 
graces of my family. Also, it turned out 
that everything had gone so much more 
quickly than had been expected in regard 
to getting the car into shape, that it look- 
ed like we might sail for home on the 
morrow. 

2 p. m., playing solitaire in the library. 
This game I find is pretty sure to keep you 

82 



out of trouble with anyone but yourself, 
and after my recent experience I felt it 
wise to stick close to it. 6 p. m., supper 
time. It does seem that it is always meal 
time in the country. After I had helped 
the old maid with the dishes we retired 
to the sitting room. I believe I have for- 
gotten to mention that the dish-washing 
affair had been a part of my daily diet 
during my sojourn there, but Mother 
never forgot to have me do it just the 
same. 9 p. m., I sneaked for bed, not that 
I was sleepy, but I did not feel exactly 
comfortable ; I felt as though the eyes 
which w^ere turned now and then in my 
direction were not exactly friendly in 
their expression so I removed myself. 



83 



Sunday, September 20, 5 A. M. 

Up and dressed in a great hurry, for to- 
day we were to start for home. We had 
a dandy breakfast. Dad and Mother were 
in a most happy state of mind, even my 
piccadilloes of a few days before were 
completely forgotten it would seem. It 
occurred to me that Dad would not be so 
smiling when he received the bill for re- 
pairs on the other fellow's car, but there 
was no use hastening the evil day, so I 
packed up my duds and prepared to leave 
the farm house which had been our abid- 
ing place for the last few days. 

The morning was quite cold and Mother 
put on her big fur coat and hat, and truly 
she looked more like an esquimo than 
anything else. I have no fur coat and I 
am glad I haven't, for there would have 
been no room for me in the car had I been 
bundled up as she was. The chaufifeur 
brought "Billie" around to the door, the 
first time I think he had touched the 
wheel during our entire trip. Poor "Bil- 
lie," he did not look so very fine, in fact 
he looked awfully patched up, and the 
paint upon his patched places did not 
match very well with his other coloring, 
but he seemed all right as far as going 
went. 

We bid good-bye to the old maid and 

84 



the farmer, Dad took the wheel, and off 
we went. Hartford was to be our next 
city of any importance, and there we were 
to have our dinner, ii a. m., we had been 
going along beautifully, no stops for oil- 
ing up, no tire trouble, in fact everything 
had been going most smoothly. Sud- 
denly Dad brought the car to an abrupt 
stop, and Mother and I from force of 
habit started to get out. Dad hollered 
at us, wanted to know what ailed us ; we 
didn't know, but supposed something was 
wrong with **Billie." He said no there 
was not, but that he had been going so 
good naturedly for so long, that he had 
just stopped him to see if he really meant 
it and would start again all right. I 
thought that was fool business ; it is best 
to leave well enough alone I believe. 11.05, 
turned the button and sure enough the car 
sprung ahead and we were ofT like a 
streak. There has just been a stretch of 
macadam road completed some miles 
above Hartford and when we got to that 
Dad just turned everything on full and — 
well, I suppose we did have one wheel on 
the ground some of the time, but at the 
time it did not seem so to me. 

12.30, reached Hartford, the city of our 
desires, but not exactly in the way we de- 
sired. No indeed. Just at the outskirts 
of the city, about the time we were giving 
an express train points, a fellow on a mo- 
tor cycle called halt ! He had a speedom- 

85 



eter upon his handlebars, and when he 
came up to us he said we had been mak- 
ing, I don't exactly remember, but some 
ridiculous number of miles, and told us 
we were under arrest. Mother began to 
cry, Dad swore some, and not knowing 
just what to do, I kept still, and under 
escort of the law we made our debut in 
Hartford. Well, that introduction to the 
lawmakers of Hartford cost Dad just a 
quarter of a hundred dollars, and none of 
us were anxious to continue the acquaint- 
ance. 

3 p. m., at liberty once more and now 
for some dinner. I was almost starved to 
death ; so was the chauffeur, poor fellow, 
but Dad and Mother did not seem much 
in the mood to wait for anything to eat 
there. I suppose it seemed to them that 
enough of Dad's good money had been 
left there as it was. However, we stopped 
at a quaint little roadhouse, just after 
leaving the city, and had a delightful 
lunch. 

4.30, away once again ; we had a clear 
course and I do not think we kept always 
within the speed limit either. Several 
fellows who looked like country consta- 
bles looked after us rather suspiciously, 
and I think one or two caught our num- 
ber, but no one molested us. 6 p. m., a 
crowd in the road ahead were gathered 
about an automobile which was hung up 
and seemed the center of attraction. 

86 



When we got nearer Dad stopped to see 
if he could be of any assistance. A couple 
of young fellows had the machine and I 
think they had it out for a joy ride. They 
seemed pretty worried, but truly I could 
not feel properly sympathetic ; it seemed 
so good to see another bunch in trouble 
that I could have danced. Well, our 
chauffeur tried to help the boys out. He 
dug around underneath the car, looking 
for the difficulty, but could not locate it. 
Dad began pawing over the engines and 
finally found that one of the "sparking 
bugs," I think he called it, had got too old 
to spark, or at any rate absolutely refused 
to do so. We all tried to coax a little life 
into the thing but it was hopeless. 7 p. m., 
nothing accomplished and at last we left 
the poor fellows and continued on our 
way. 

My, but it was a new experience leav- 
ing the other car behind; usually we had 
been the ones to watch the rest depart. 
7.30, stopped to light up, the first time 
since our departure from home. The gas 
lamps would not work; no amount of 
coaxing would bring even a glimmer from 
them. Things do certainly work back- 
wards in this world. Most of the time 
we had been away there had been a glori- 
ous moon each night. Now when we 
wanted to travel a little after dark to get 
home the blooming thing decided to take 
a vacation. We got along quite well, how- 

87 



ever, for a while. 8.15, two lights ahead 
and as they did not show any inclination 
to turn out for us, Dad supposed it was 
because the other fellow could not see our 
miserable lights, so he turned far to the 
right and presto ! down went our star- 
board side amidst a most terrific sound of 
crashing timber and a sickening feeling of 
yielding ground. 8.20, all hands gathered 
round *'Billie" and with the aid of our 
poor little oil lamps we found that the 
lights we had seen were not lamps on an 
automobile, neither had they been placed 
upon the roadside as ornaments. They 
were warning signals about an open ditch, 
and when Dad turned out he closed up 
some of that ditch with our poor "Billie." 
8.25, home looked very far away to me 
about this time. It was so dark that we 
could not determine whether much had 
been broken. I spied a dim light a short 
distance ahead, and Dad, Mother and I 
started to walk toward it. We left the 
chauffeur to watch the car and flag any 
other unfortunate wayfarer who might 
come along with designs upon the same 
ditch. 

At 8.35 we arrived at the light and found 
it was in a house, and so we began pound- 
ing upon the doors to awaken the in- 
mates. My but country people do go to 
bed early. 8.45, a window was raised 
cautiously in the upstairs part of the 
house and a squeeky female voice asked 



"Who is there?" Dad told of some of our 
difficulties and asked for the man of the 
house, Alas, there was none ; we had hit 
upon another old maid it seemed. Finally 
we succeeded in quieting the lady's fears 
and got the information from her that her 
brother lived about a half-mile below and 
would most likely do what he could for 
us. Dad asked her if he had a telephone 
so that he might get in communication 
with a garage somewhere. Wondrous 
luck ! the lady herself had one, and after 
keeping us waiting almost half an hour 
while she dressed, she at last opened the 
door and showed us where the telephone 
was. Dad worked that instrument of use- 
fulness to good advantage, while Mother 
and I were assailed with hundreds of ques- 
tions as to how it happened, and why, etc. 
The lady talked so fast herself that she 
scarcely waited to be answered, which 
was a great blessing, for neither of us 
knew much more about it than she did. 
ID p. m., the pleasant sound of honk! 
honk ! greeted our ears. It was a machine 
which had been sent out to us from New 
Haven, and we all proceeded down the 
road to "Billie." The chauffeur was sound 
asleep, curled up in the tonneau, taking 
more comfort apparently than he had got- 
ten all the while we had been away from 
home. 

II p. m., "Billie" standing upon an even 
keel once more, and wonders of wonders, 

89 



nothing worse had happened to him than 
a bent axle. The sound of crashing wood 
which had seemed so ominous to us was 
only a couple of thin planks which had 
lain alongside the ditch. Also, as we sunk 
down it seemed just enough earth had 
tumbled into the opening to make a very 
comfortable berth for "Billie," so with the 
aid of the new arrivals we had succeeded 
in righting things, but "Billie" was astride 
the blooming ditch. At last we gathered 
together some pieces of old joists from the 
scene of operations to build a sort of cor- 
duroy bridge over enough of the opening 
to transfer the car across, and I for one 
thanked my lucky stars that things had 
turned out as well as they had. We got 
some stuff from the New Haven car to 
fill our gas tank, and at midnight, with our 
"lamps all trimmed and burning," we bade 
adieu to the scene of our latest and, I 
fervently hoped, our last disaster. 

2.05 a. m., climbing the last hill before 
reaching our house. 2.20 a. m., in the 
yard. 2.30 a. m., in the house, with bags 
and coats and things deposited upon the 
floor. Bade good night, or rather good 
morning, to Dad and Mother, and taking 
a suit case in each hand started for my 
room. 3 a. m., when I was ready to brush 
out my hair, I could not find the bag with 
my comb and brush and night dress. 
Hurried down stairs and pawed over the 
bunch of things, but no ! that bag was 

90 



missing. I went in to tell Mother about 
it. We both then remembered that it had 
been strapped on the trunk rack with the 
trunk that morning and must have jarred 
loose when we dropped down so hard that 
time. Oh, dear ! I suppose that bag is resting 
comfortably at the bottom of that pernick- 
ety old ditch. 4 a. m., in my own bed, 
thank Heaven, trying to forget I had ever 
been away. 



91 



Conclusions Arrived at Next Day Looking 
Backward. 

1st. In capital letters— GLAD TO BE 
AT HOME AGAIN. 

2nd. An automobile is nothing to take 
with you to see the country. 

3rd. An old plug of a horse is good 
enough for me my next trip. 

4th. Automobiles spoil tempers and 
break up happy homes. 

5th. It is best to make trips with 
strangers, the mental atmosphere is apt to 
remain much clearer. 

6th. A fellow to run an automobile 
should carry at least one National Bank 
in his pocket at all times. 




TINIS 



MAfi 4 l^H 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



,* oo %;^? 




^y" ^^ij, * ' ** n!^ » • • ^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proc 

° V^ **J-> aV *-a»i<CS^K'* ■ Neutralizing Agent; Magnesium Oxide 

V^ ^*a ^'. ^^^ ,/>;^ ♦'''^5il&, TreatrrientDate: ^^^^ ]; 



.^ 

















_yXi' 



^^^0* 



MAY 
BBRKEEPE 

PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIES, 
1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724) 779-21 1 1 






.0^. 








/ J- 



0* .'''■> "^c 













■^o' 

^•1°^ 









